SpecialtiesPregnancy, New Mothers, and Infertility

During my 18 years as a psychotherapist, I have specialized with pregnant women, new mothers, and infertility patients and their particular issues.

pregnancy

Pregnancy can be a period of anticipation, hope, and change. While you may be happy and excited to be pregnant, you may also be anxious about issues such as:

• How to negotiate the many transitions you are facing
• Whether you will be a good mother
• Wondering whether it is normal to feel ambivalent about having a baby
• How to develop realistic expectations of yourself as a mother
• The need to work through aspects of your feelings about your own mother
• Changing focus from career to family

new mothers

Life as a new mother can be both joyous and draining. Psychotherapy can be helpful for either postpartum depression or
feeling overwhelmed by new motherhood. You may be dealing with:

• Trying to find time for yourself.
• Mood swings that are more upsetting than you had expected
• Difficulty negotiating the demands of parenting with your partner
• Profound changes in your sense of yourself
• Doubts about yourself as a mother
• Making difficult choices about balancing your former life and your new role as a mother
• Worries about repeating the negative parenting that you received

infertility: psychotherapy for individuals and couples

When having a baby is difficult, it's natural to feel upset. It can affect every aspect of your life: your self-esteem, your life dreams, your ability to reach out to friends and family for support. Often little attention is given to your feelings as you attend to the medical aspects of infertility. Difficult emotions may affect you or both you and your partner. Some common feelings that infertile women may experience:

• Envy of pregnant women and mothers
• Loss of control
• Anxiety or depression
• Denial, anger, or guilt
• Shame and embarrassment around your body's failure to perform
• Sense that your identity as a woman is threatened

Men, too, may experience painful feelings—such as shame, embarrassment, or powerlessness—when the couple is infertile. Joint counseling can benefit both partners. Some common experiences of infertile couples:

• Day-to-day disagreements increase disproportionately in importance
• Anger occurs because intercourse has become a “job” and is no longer fun
• Communication becomes increasingly difficult
• Frustration occurs because expensive, time-consuming treatments do not assure a baby